Q1 2026 Office Lease Deals: The Comps That Set the National Bar

CompStak’s Q1 2026 Deals of Distinction report is here, spotlighting the largest and longest office leases signed nationwide this quarter. You’ll see what an AI infrastructure provider paid per square foot at 1 Vanderbilt and how far ahead of occupancy Carlyle locked down its Park Avenue block. Below are the office lease deals that topped the report, one per category.

Top National Deal by Value: New Lease or Expansion

Anthropic · 300 Howard Street · San Francisco, South Financial District submarket

• 412,875 SF, the entire building
• $87.00/SF starting rent, 17.6% above the $74 submarket average for new leases and expansions
• 144-month term, 107.2% longer than the 69.5-month submarket average
• $508.4 million total consideration, the largest of any new lease in the quarter

The concession structure is the part worth studying. The comp records 14 months of rent abatement and 3% annual increases on the $87.00 starting rate, with an August 2026 commencement. Blackstone and DivcoWest are the landlords, with JLL on the leasing assignment. A twelve-year, whole-building commitment at a premium to submarket rent is not a tenant optimizing for flexibility.

Top National Deal by Value: Renewal or Extension

Ramp · 28-40 West 23rd Street · New York City, Gramercy Park and Union Square submarket

• 285,303 SF
• $93.00/SF, 7.5% above the $85.50 submarket average for renewals and extensions
• 153-month term, 64.9% longer than the 92.8-month submarket average
• $318.4 million total consideration, the largest of any renewal in the quarter

The comp classifies this as an extension and expansion rather than a straight renewal. The notes split it into 132,300 RSF of existing floors extended plus 153,003 RSF of expansion space, and those two figures sum exactly to the 285,303 SF headline, so the tenant more than doubled its footprint while extending. The notes also record a rent step-up later in the term. Tenant representation was CBRE. Outside coverage of the quarter ranked this among Manhattan’s largest leases and the biggest in Midtown South.

Notable National TAMI Deal

PayPal Holdings · 345 Hudson Street · New York City, Hudson Square submarket

• 260,872 SF, over 4x the 51,536 SF New York City market average
• 120-month term, 21.1% longer than the 99.1-month New York City market average
• $200.6 million total consideration

A ten-year commitment on a quarter-million square feet from a payments company that could plausibly have shrunk instead. Hudson Square Properties is the landlord, with CBRE on both sides of the transaction.

Notable National FIRE Deal

Jump Trading · 50 Hudson Yards · New York City, Hudson Yards submarket

• 99,305 SF, over 3.5x the 28,074 SF average for new leases and expansions in the market
• 180-month term, 156.6% longer than the New York City market average
• $388.8 million total consideration, the largest by any FIRE tenant in the quarter

The comp notes a relocation from 11 East 26th Street into former Vista Equity space that Related had taken back, transacted directly. Fifteen years is a long commitment for a proprietary trading firm, and it landed in the most expensive new-construction submarket in Manhattan.

Top National Deal by Starting Rent

Nscale · 1 Vanderbilt Avenue · New York City, Grand Central submarket

• 7,204 SF
• $320.00/SF, exceeding the $106.53 submarket average for new leases and expansions by 200.4%
• 60-month term, 46.2% shorter than the 111.5-month submarket average

Triple the submarket rate on half the typical term. An AI infrastructure provider bought a trophy address and optionality at the same time, which is the opposite trade from the one Anthropic made in San Francisco. SL Green and Mori Trust are the landlords.

Top National Deal by Effective Rent

MIC Capital (Mubadala) · 375 Park Avenue · New York City, Park Avenue submarket

• 18,214 SF, an expansion
• $275.56/SF effective rent, 119.6% above the $125.50 submarket average
• 232-month term (19 years, 4 months), coterminous with the tenant’s existing space
• 16 months of free rent, 6.9% of the term, which is 190 basis points below the 8.8% submarket free rent ratio

This is the clearest landlord win in the report. The tenant paid more than double the submarket effective rent and took less free rent than the submarket norm, on a nineteen-year term commencing April 2027. RFR Realty owns the Seagram Building. When a sovereign-linked investor expands coterminously, the landlord holds the leverage, and this deal shows what that looks like in the numbers.

Top National Deal in a Trophy Building or New Construction

The Carlyle Group · 245 Park Avenue · New York City, Park Avenue submarket

• 150,036 SF, nearly 6x the 25,865 SF average for Class A new leases and expansions in the submarket
• $165.00/SF starting rent, 16.4% above the $141.78 Class A submarket average
• $142.73/SF net effective rent
• 132-month term, commencing August 2029

Note that commencement date. This is a pre-lease signed three and a half years ahead of occupancy, which tells you how tight large trophy blocks on Park Avenue are expected to be. SL Green and Mori Trust own the building. CBRE represented the landlord, JLL the tenant.

CompStak records this as the largest trophy office building lease signed in New York City since Gibson Dunn’s 361,569 SF extension at 200 Park Avenue.

Top National Deal by Transaction Size

Anthropic · 300 Howard Street · San Francisco, South Financial District submarket

• 412,875 SF, 13x the 32,063 SF submarket average for new leases and expansions
• Full service lease type, 144-month term

The same lease that topped the value category also topped transaction size, which is itself a data point about how concentrated the quarter was. The deck notes this is the largest new lease it has tracked in the market since Google’s 429,795 SF renewal at 345 Spear Street in Q1 2025. One tenant absorbed thirteen average South Financial District transactions in a single signature.

Top National Tenant Expansion

OpenAI · two markets

• 282,124 SF at 1800 Owens Street, San Francisco, Mission Bay and China Basin submarket, 10x the 27,599 SF San Francisco market average
• 529,611 SF at 555 110th Avenue Northeast, Seattle, Bellevue CBD submarket, almost 23x the 23,056 SF Seattle market average
• OpenAI expanded its national footprint by 51.5% in Q1 2026

Two new leases in two markets in one quarter. For landlords in Bellevue and Mission Bay, the useful read is that a single tenant can now move a submarket’s absorption numbers by itself, which cuts both ways when the lease comes up for renewal.

Data from CompStak’s proprietary database. Learn more at compstak.com.

What This Means for Office Landlords and Asset Managers

Three things from this quarter should change how you underwrite the next one.

1. AI tenants are signing long, not short. Anthropic took 144 months and OpenAI took two markets at once. The exception, Nscale’s 60-month deal at $320/SF, paid a 200% rent premium for that flexibility. Both structures are now comped.
2. Free rent is where the trophy negotiation is settling. MIC Capital took 16 months, 190 basis points below the Park Avenue norm, while paying double the submarket effective rent. Watch the concession ratio, not the headline rent.
3. Large trophy blocks are pre-leasing years out. Carlyle signed for an August 2029 commencement. If you own comparable space, your competition may already be spoken for.

One caveat on all of it. Nine superlative deals are not a market sample. Use them to bracket the range, then pull the full comp set for your submarket before you price anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What was the largest office lease signed in Q1 2026? A: Anthropic’s 412,875 SF new lease at 300 Howard Street in San Francisco, which covered the entire building. It carried a 144-month term, an $87.00/SF starting rent, and $508.4 million in total consideration, making it the top deal nationally by both value and transaction size.

Q: What was the highest office rent in Q1 2026? A: Nscale paid $320.00/SF at 1 Vanderbilt Avenue in Manhattan’s Grand Central submarket, exceeding the submarket average of $106.53/SF for new leases and expansions by 200.4%. The lease ran a 60-month term, 46.2% shorter than the submarket average.

Q: How much free rent are office tenants getting in 2026? A: It varies sharply by submarket and tenant leverage. Anthropic received 14 months of abatement on a 144-month San Francisco lease. On Park Avenue, MIC Capital took 16 months on a 232-month term, a 6.9% free rent ratio that came in 190 basis points below the submarket average of 8.8%.

Q: Are AI companies driving office leasing? A: They accounted for four of the nine top deals in this report, including the largest lease of the quarter and the highest starting rent. Anthropic took an entire 412,875 SF building in San Francisco, OpenAI expanded its national footprint by 51.5% across two markets, and Nscale paid the quarter’s highest starting rent at $320.00/SF.

Q: How does CompStak verify these lease comps? A: Every comp is processed by a multi-step data verification system, including machine learning algorithms, statistical anomaly detection, and a team of CRE data analysts. Comps that arrive missing a key attribute are labeled as limited detail on the platform rather than published as complete.

See the Comps Behind Your Own Market

Nine deals give you the national picture. Your next renewal negotiation turns on the twenty comps inside your submarket, on what concession ratios are actually clearing there, and on whether the large blocks around you are already pre-leased.